Drawing Stories With Travis Millard

What goes into making art? A lot more than looking at an image and simply drawing it, that’s for sure. There are stories and histories and backgrounds to all of them which is why they are so important to us. Travis Millard is taking this idea to the next level with a new project that is part drawing exercise, part comedic storytelling, and part video experience. The project is called Drawing Stories and literally is just that: Travis drawing as he tells stories on video. It’s a simple project that gives you a peek into what exactly goes into an artist’s work. Plus, Travis is hysterical so you know these videos are going to entertain.

The videos have Travis in an almost Mister Rogers type of setup where he’s sitting behind a desk drawing and telling a little story by a fire. It alternates between Travis speaking to camera and getting an over the shoulder look at a drawing being made. Travis has a humor about him and so do his drawings. Naturally, his stories follow suit! There are two videos so far in the series and both of them are excellent: one is about him getting struck by lighting while in a truck on the way to fulfill a soda craving while the other is a more hypothetical story about how his parents almost named him Rusty. Both drawings that come from these stories reflect the oddity and comedy of the tales too.

The videos are made with filmmaker Aaron Beckum and they have a great care and detail to them. They definitely turn the idea of art making videos on its head and make you hope that Travis gets his own Adult Swim or PBS show dedicated to him telling these fun tales. You can catch these first two episodes below and you’ll have to follow the Drawing Stories website for the next video.